Tom Izzo Inside Quotations

I always preach to my kids that outside issues create inside problems. Pressure that you get at this time of year - you're a senior, you've got to play well to hopefully play at the next level. You just have to deal with it. I look at those guys right now, and they're not handling it as well as they did earlier.

I think the first five shots we took were 3s, but our inside guys weren't doing the things (we needed). In the second half, we simplified it, (we asked) the guys in the post to be passers and pickers, and that probably helped us some.

I think you have to give George Mason a lot of credit. They took it to us early, kicked our butts inside and shot 70 percent on us with eight or nine minutes to go in the second half. ... I've got to say that in my nine years, this is one of the more disappointing evenings I've had in this job.

We just did not check defensively. They really just went at us inside and it was almost a joke. We've never been handled like that inside.

The only reason I'd say no to that is because it's the type of player he is. We have other guys that can fill in in certain spots, but it's the athlete, it's the versatile 6-6, 6-7 athlete that can guard inside guys and guards, and that's where it creates some problems for us. It's not really replacing apples to apples. Anybody else that we replace him with is a completely different kind of athlete.

I feel better that our key people are very confident, very stable. I feel worse that we definitely don't have the depth. We have more depth inside than we had last year, but no experience. And we have no experience or depth inside or outside in comparison to what we lost.

He's one of the more improved players in the league. I loved him as a freshman. Now he's putting the ball on the floor and shooting threes. He's a tough cover because he grew up an inside four-man and is starting to be a three man. He can do both.

The disappointing thing is that they took it at us early, kicked our butts inside. We've never been handled like that inside . . . They were the tougher team tonight and that made the difference.